Further thoughts on António Guterres's quote
It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum.
The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.
Historical trauma is multigenerational trauma experienced by a specific cultural, racial or ethnic group. It is related to major events that oppressed a particular group of people because of their status as oppressed, such as slavery, the Holocaust, forced migration, and the violent colonization of Native Americans. While many in such a group will experience no effects of the historical trauma, others may experience poor overall physical and behavioral health, including low self-esteem, depression, self-destructive behavior, marked propensity for violent or aggressive behavior, substance misuse and addiction, and high rates of suicide and cardiovascular disease. Acute problems of domestic violence or alcohol misuse that are not directly linked to historical trauma may be exacerbated by living in a community with unaddressed grief and behavioral health needs. Parents’ experience of trauma may disrupt typical parenting skills and contribute to behavior problems in children. Compounding this familial or intergenerational trauma, historical trauma often involves the additional challenge of a damaged cultural identity (Sotero, 2006 see below).
A Conceptual Model of Historical Trauma: Implications for Public Health Practice and Research Michelle Sotero [full text in link]
Abstract
Historical trauma theory is a relatively new concept in public health. The premise of this theory is that populations historically subjected to long-term, mass trauma-colonialism, slavery, war, genocide-exhibit a higher prevalence of disease even several generations after the original trauma occurred. Understanding how historical trauma might influence the current health status of racial/ethnic populations in the U.S. may provide new directions and insights for eliminating health disparities. This article offers an analysis of the theoretical framework of historical trauma theory and provides a general review of the literature. A conceptual model is introduced illustrating how historical trauma might play a role in disease prevalence and health disparities. Finally, implications for public health practice and research are discussed.
My first recommended reading, thanks to my partner of over 25 years Marie-Louise for recommending it to me.
The Holocaust and the Nakba: A New Grammar of Trauma and History (2018)
In this groundbreaking book, leading Arab and Jewish intellectuals examine how and why the Holocaust and the Nakba are interlinked without blurring fundamental differences between them. While these two foundational tragedies are often discussed separately and in abstraction from the constitutive historical global contexts of nationalism and colonialism, The Holocaust and the Nakba explores the historical, political, and cultural intersections between them. The majority of the contributors argue that these intersections are embedded in cultural imaginations, colonial and asymmetrical power relations, realities, and structures. Focusing on them paves the way for a new political, historical, and moral grammar that enables a joint Arab-Jewish dwelling and supports historical reconciliation in Israel/Palestine.
The Holocaust:
When Nazi Germany found out that Ethnic Cleansing was not possible they came up with the horror of the Final Solution [i.e. the holocaust].
Please avoid using the Holocaust when writing about the current situation.
Neither side should be calling each other Nazis, they are not.
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My second recommended reading
Across the Wall: Narratives of Israeli-Palestinian History [2010]
Across the Wall arose from a unique collaboration between scholars from Israel and Palestine, seeking to arrive at a shared framework for studying the history of this troubled land. Ilan Pappé and Jamil Hilal, among the top academics in Israel and Palestine respectively, brought historians from both sides of the divide together for dialogue on history, identity, and the meaning of the conflict. In the volume they argue persuasively for the concept of a ‘bridging narrative’: a historiographical discourse which can accommodate seemingly incompatible national meta-narratives. Proceeding from this innovative theoretical framework, Across the Wall then goes onto offer critical examinations of some of the most contested issues in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the 1948 Nakba, the 1967 war, the occupation, and the formation of the PLO. Not only the history, but the historiography itself is subject to fresh perspectives, looking at, for example, how different generations of Israeli historians have interpreted the Zionist movement, or how women have been written out of the history of Palestine. The result is a radical new take on the history of Israel/Palestine which transcends the biases inherent in both countries’ national narratives and points towards a new model for the historiography of conflicts.
My brief thoughts
I have suffered many years from trauma-driven PTSD/Social anxiety disorder and regularly refresh my CPT/CBT treatment to enable/refresh coping mechanisms, anyway, this is not about me.
Anything that negatively reinforces entrenched behaviors will only make matters worse, for example:-
1-Propaganda.
For example, the media after 9-11 permitted the Neoconservative to follow an extremely dubious path. Add in anti-social media and you have a recipe for disaster.
2-Supply of Weapons
Giving the means to exacerbate the situation further is unwise.
3- Protection
Supplying the excuses/blockages that allow reprisals to take place without responsibility.
There are always people ready to exploit the situation i.e. bad actors, whereas the majority just want peace.
Let's try and avoid a full-blown psychosis from setting in.
If this cycle is unbroken then that will be hard to avoid.
Yes, in a way I am proposing a diplomatic CPT with immediate ceasefire.
Bothersiderism, hell yes, if that stops this mess.
I hope you find my reading recommendations of interest.
FYI.